Hardcover, 503 pages
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2009 by Alfred A. Knopf.
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.
But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander—the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.
As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit …
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.
But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander—the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.
As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all. (front flap)
This book started a little slower than the first part of the trilogy, but it picked up about halfway through. The last 100 pages were very riveting, I couldn't stop reading. An excellent thriller/crime mystery book!
I liked this book a lot more than the first in the Millennium series. I'm a big math nerd so I appreciated Lisbeth's obsession with Fermat's Last theorem. In general, this book had a lot more action and suspense in it than the first book.
Can't wait for the third book!!
Here's the problem with Larsson's novels: they're terribly slow and boring for hundreds of pages. Then you get to the last 50 pages, and you find yourself on a fast-paced roller coaster right through to the final page. Later on, when you try to decide whether you're going to read his next book? You remember the fun ending (but not the torturous slog that got you there). I spent most of this book trying to decide whether I should just cut my losses and ask my wife how it ended, but then I got to the final chapters and found myself staying up until 3am because I just had to finish it.
I liked this a lot more than I thought I was going to. Of course bits of it are over the top, it's supposed to be a thriller. and that one of its villains is lifted directly from a James Bond novel which is even named in the text. And despite that Larsson gets his knickers in a twist over prostitution which he conflates with sex trafficking - although the aspect of it that Blomkvist confronts is one of its less pleasant ones. However SL does seem to back up the Swedish model (not as nice as it sounds) of anti-whoring law under which the john is prosecuted (no, 'prosecuted', stop giggling at the back there). Thought experiment: if you wanted to combat prostitution why not make adultery an offence? Although in that case poor Blomkvist would find himself on a charge in that case. However in this second volume …
I liked this a lot more than I thought I was going to. Of course bits of it are over the top, it's supposed to be a thriller. and that one of its villains is lifted directly from a James Bond novel which is even named in the text. And despite that Larsson gets his knickers in a twist over prostitution which he conflates with sex trafficking - although the aspect of it that Blomkvist confronts is one of its less pleasant ones. However SL does seem to back up the Swedish model (not as nice as it sounds) of anti-whoring law under which the john is prosecuted (no, 'prosecuted', stop giggling at the back there). Thought experiment: if you wanted to combat prostitution why not make adultery an offence? Although in that case poor Blomkvist would find himself on a charge in that case. However in this second volume Blomkvist (there are far, far too many character names starting with B in this book) isn't quite the superstud he seems to be in the first book.
I though the OCD-ish description of items and consumer goods was a strange trait - one which is also found in "American Psycho" of course. And in a way with this fairly boring description of consumer goods and then sudden lurch into ultraviolence reminded me of David Foster Wallace (the horror! the horror!).
I liked this a lot more than I thought I was going to. Of course bits of it are over the top, it's supposed to be a thriller. and that one of its villains is lifted directly from a James Bond novel which is even named in the text. And despite that Larsson gets his knickers in a twist over prostitution which he conflates with sex trafficking - although the aspect of it that Blomkvist confronts is one of its less pleasant ones. However SL does seem to back up the Swedish model (not as nice as it sounds) of anti-whoring law under which the john is prosecuted (no, 'prosecuted', stop giggling at the back there).
Thought experiment: if you wanted to combat prostitution why not make adultery an offence? Although in that case poor Blomkvist would find himself on a charge in that case. However in this second volume …
I liked this a lot more than I thought I was going to. Of course bits of it are over the top, it's supposed to be a thriller. and that one of its villains is lifted directly from a James Bond novel which is even named in the text. And despite that Larsson gets his knickers in a twist over prostitution which he conflates with sex trafficking - although the aspect of it that Blomkvist confronts is one of its less pleasant ones. However SL does seem to back up the Swedish model (not as nice as it sounds) of anti-whoring law under which the john is prosecuted (no, 'prosecuted', stop giggling at the back there).
Thought experiment: if you wanted to combat prostitution why not make adultery an offence? Although in that case poor Blomkvist would find himself on a charge in that case. However in this second volume Blomkvist (there are far, far too many character names starting with B in this book) isn't quite the superstud he seems to be in the first book. I though the OCD-ish description of items and consumer goods was a strange trait - one which is also found in "American Psycho" of course. And in a way with this fairly boring description of consumer goods and then sudden lurch into ultraviolence reminded me of David Foster Wallace or BEE.
Better than I had expected. Rather hamfisted, and the main character is totally a Mary Sue... but I found myself enjoying the story and the characters. Larsson had a strong sense of justice and moral outrage, and dammit it's just fun to watch some übercompetent good guys fight and win (spoiler alert: yeah, like there's ever any doubt) against bullies.
Couldn't put it down, shocking and thrilling, can't wait for number 3!
I enjoyed this very much. Very suspensesful. Plus cliff-hanger end.
Better than the first, but I was still very frustrated at the unnecessary amount of detail the author added. When reading crime books one tends to store every piece of information given, assuming that it's a richly-woven tapestry and everything is significant. The name of the lamp she buys for the kitchen at Ikea is, however, unrelated to anyfuckingthing. Why several pages needed to be devoted to this is beyond me. Is it humour, perverseness, poor editing? I can't tell.
Gripes aside, an action packed techno-political thriller with a broken anti-heroine at the core. You want to know about "all the evil" and you most certainly want Lisbeth to get her bloody justice.
(You don't want to know about the particular shade of her jacket. I'm just saying.)
Another superb book from Larsson. I don't know how he does it. Once again he's created an intricately detailed book with a superb plot, and he's continued to develop his key characters so that they become ever more fascinating. At the same time he leads his own readers down his own path of moral outrage in such a way that no one can disagree with his viewpoint.
I can't wait to read the next book.
A book with some wonderful twists and turns: make sure you read the first before you get to this, otherwise little will make sense. A good thriller - not quite as good as the first, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Somewhat predictable but regardless still a great read. This is the sequel to The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and it focuses again on Lisabeth Salander, who is somewhat of an anti-hero and Mikael Blomkvist publisher and journalist for Millenium. This time its a triple murder that Salander has been accused of committing and through a series of twists and turns Salander's past is revealed to us.
I didn't feel like this one was as good as The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, but it was still well written and obviously well researched, with plenty of insight into sex trafficking between russia and sweden.
Middle Book Syndrome. (ironic for a book that was supposed to be part of a series of ten.) It builds on the first book but sets up the plot for a final book, so in many ways it has a hard time standing on its own. On the other hand, I found this book a lot more satisfying than the first book. There was a lot less of Larsson's annoying habit of tedious exposition, and much more action, to the benefit of the pacing. Salander and Blomquist are much more interesting characters apart from each other -- although honestly I find Blomquist a pretty flat and boring protagonist altogether, so I was pleased that The Girl of the title was much more well drawn in this book. The big climactic scene was a tad hard to swallow, but the whole series is a big guilty pleasure, so I'll let it …
Middle Book Syndrome. (ironic for a book that was supposed to be part of a series of ten.) It builds on the first book but sets up the plot for a final book, so in many ways it has a hard time standing on its own. On the other hand, I found this book a lot more satisfying than the first book. There was a lot less of Larsson's annoying habit of tedious exposition, and much more action, to the benefit of the pacing. Salander and Blomquist are much more interesting characters apart from each other -- although honestly I find Blomquist a pretty flat and boring protagonist altogether, so I was pleased that The Girl of the title was much more well drawn in this book. The big climactic scene was a tad hard to swallow, but the whole series is a big guilty pleasure, so I'll let it pass.
Great book! I love this series and can't wait to read the last book!
